The Good List

I was in denial, but I knew it was coming. Today is Monday, August 30th. My first day of teacher in-service. I am not going to lie and say that today was easy for me. It is going to be a challenging transition for us all.

Instead of filling this post with all the things I will miss (terribly) about summer, like rocking Claire before her nap, playing outside, going for bike rides whenever we want, and not setting an alarm clock (okay...I just had to mention a few), I want to list the things that are GOOD about this change.

1. I get to see all my school friends on a daily basis (except for Nicole, who is staying home for a few extra months with her darling Hannah).

2. I get to start all over with a FRESH new year. I love coming up with a bunch of new ideas to incorporate into my class.

3. Every morning when I'm at school, I am greeted in the hallway by a lot of smiling faces, and just as many "Good Morning"s.

4. I get to have Ella at Pinewood!

5. I get to drink HOT coffee in the morning before class begins. Whenever I am at home, I get interrupted constantly.

6. I get to teach cute, cheeky, elementary kids who (usually) love my class.

7. I get to wear "active wear" as my professional wear.

8. I get a quiet 50 minutes after lunch, because that is when I have my prep time.

9. I get to work with a staff who is really passionate about what they do.

10. I have the comfort of knowing that next June, I will get to enjoy another summer with my girls.

Here is to a fun and successful school year.
Cheers!

denial is still a good thing . . .

I still have two days of summer left. That means two more stress-free mornings, two more days with a very flexible agenda, and two more days of PJ's until lunch. I am not going to think about Monday quite yet . . . after all, it is Saturday morning! Nobody should think about Monday on a Saturday!

Paris, Milan, and Big Lake

The Annual Adolphson Fall Fashion Show happens at our house shortly before the school year begins. This is the time the girls get to show of their school clothes to their dad and any other visitors that happen to be here. This year's VIP attendees were dad (of course) and Nanny.

The garments were lined up in the laundry room, so that quick changes would be easier. Once the girls heard Miley Cyrus pumping in Jocie bedroom, they knew it was time to strut their stuff.

Jocie started off the show with her "school girl" look of dark skinny jeans and an Aero short-sleeved polo.

Ella's first selection (and also her first-day-of-kindergarten outfit) is a "preppy" look of an argyle short-sleeved sweater coupled with an adorable military-style denim skirt.

Jocie's next selection was a plaid umpire-waisted top with a cropped sweater to complete the ensemble. . . such a "middle school" look.

For Ella's second outfit, she wore a sassy-yet-studious blouse with black legging/jeans. The headband is just the cherry on top of this outfit!

The hot look this year is plaid (as you may guess from this runway show). Jocie's button-up top fits right into this category.

The dress and legging combo is a winning selection! Just look how cute :)

Stripes is also a must this fall. Jocie always looks great in blue . . . matches her gorgeous eyes.

Look out now! Here comes Ella in a darling sweater dress.

. . . need I say more?

(look at that strut . . . we may be in trouble!)

The grand finale was both girls coming out hand-in-hand supporting the western look of a button-up plaid top with a collar. This look is dedicated to their daddy.

Great show girls, great show!

This show was sponsored in part by:

Grandma and Grandpa Adolphson

Nanny Blackmun

:)

The Time is Near

I don't want to say the time has come . . . but it is near. Still on my "positive thinking"mission, I refuse to give up on my summer yet. I still have 1 week before I have to attend my first day of Teacher In-service, and I will soak up every drop of August I have left. True, I have done a little school shopping for the girls, but I still have summer on the brain. Hopefully, all this denial does not lead up to a huge melt-down on Monday, August 30th . . . I just don't want to take any of these days for granted.

Savvy

Okay. This maybe the lamest post ever, but I have to share my latest triumph.

One of my most hated Mommy Chores is grocery shopping. I can't stand it. I usually have all three girls with me who hate grocery shopping as much as I do, so it's always a fantastic experience. Maybe the worst part about it is when I go up to the register to check out and am blown away by how much food costs! Not Okay.

So just a few days ago, I got the "Penny Pincher" coupon book in the mail. I sat down and cut out every single coupon in that book and made it my mission to use them all. So, I packed up the littles and headed to Coborns. The girls were delighted to sit in the "car" cart, which kept them occupied throughout our entire trip. The M&M cookie and Pop Tart samples helped too. :)

I bought only the items that I had coupons for (except for toilet paper . . . it was just a necessity). I "maxed out" on everything I could. For example, I could get a bag of frozen chicken breasts for $3.28, and the limit you could buy was two . . . so I bought two. I marched up to the register and waited for my total. $80.38. BUT WAIT, Ms. check-out girl! I have a huge stack of coupons for you!

I watched in amazement as she scanned each one of my little paper miracles. My total plummeted down to $51.77. That is a $28.61 savings, which tabulates out to a savings of 36%.

I walked out of that store with my nose in the air, confident in all of my purchases.

Take that, Mr. Coborns! You owe me for all those times I walked out of your store dumb-founded by how much I spent and how little a bought.

Today, I owned that store.

The Wedding of the Year

This past weekend, I attended the incredible wedding of two fantastic people. Molly (the Bride) has been a friend of mine since High School. Even though she went to the private school in town, she was always a vital part of our little "Brat Pack". Although our adult lives have not allowed us to get together often, I still think of her as one of my dearest friends.

Carl and the girls went up to Argyle for the weekend. I had never been away from Claire that long, so I knew I would be lonesome for my family. But with all the horseback riding and three-wheeling the girls did, and Carl being at the farm, I knew they were having as much fun as I was.

The Wedding took place in Brainerd, MN at Madden's Resort. It is a beautiful (and HUGE) resort that had a ton of activities happening all the time. Carl and the kids dropped me off on Friday night (on their way to Argyle), where I meet my friends from High School. We crammed into as few rooms as possible (5 stayed in my room) to keep the costs down but also to up the fun factor.

Friday night we met for dinner and drinks and then went to a lake-side bonfire complete with kegs, smores, and a DJ (super fun). We spent Saturday morning on a pontoon before getting ready for the main event.

The Wedding ceremony took place outdoors in a beautiful clearing near a lake inlet. The setting was simply beautiful with it's white chairs and gorgeous hanging flowers.

our row of friends

Derek, Scott (Rosie), Gina, Mandy, Lynsey and her husband Andrew

Hello, Rosie




Gina and Rosie

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Paul, who is Haley's husband (AKA Joe Mauer) and Nicole

Ben, the Bride's Brother escorted in the Mother of the Bride, Cathy.

She looked stunning.

The Wedding Party

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The adorable flower girl, Elenor, throwing the petels with a little sas!

The ring bearer carried this fishing pole in honor of both grandfathers.

So sweet.

The bride begins her journey to her husband-to-be

. . . across the bridge

. . . up the isle

. . . we were all in awe of her beauty

Molly looked incredible. She wore Oscar de la Renta with ease, which she custom-made for her own style by shortening the hem. She donned a Bird Cage Style veil and amazing shoes. She was breath taking.

the vows were beautifully spoken

even the kiss was perfect

Let the celebration begin for the new Mr. and Mrs.!

oh, so happy!

After the procession, they all boarded the party pontoon,

popped some champagne and let the party begin!

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The entire weekend was a blast from beginning to end. Everyone was so excited to watch these two wonderful people get married knowing that they are truley meant for eachother. If you could see the way they look at eachother, you would know what I mean. I wish nothing but health and happiness to the lovely newleyweds!

Family . . . continued

As you know from my earlier post, last week we attended The Youngern Family Reunion which was held at Ruttger's Resort in Bemidji, MN.





Ruttger's is a historic resort which dates back to the 1930's. It consists of a of Lodge (which we stayed in) and also many lake-side cabins, some of which were the first cabins on Lake Bemidji. The grounds are beautiful with it's lush flowers, sandy beaches and panoramic views of the lake.








What would be a family reunion without the two people who started it all? My Grandpa Dale and Grandma Florence (Grammy Flo) were, of course, our guests of honor. Without these two, none of us would be here.

Of family's journey started loooong ago. Their love story is something out of a novel. It goes a little something like this . . .


Boy is a phenomenal high school basketball player and lives is South Dakota.
Boy's high school coach accepts a new coaching position in Grand Forks, ND.
Boy's coach can't coach a team without boy . . . so boy moves to Grand Forks with coach so he can play on his team.
Boy's coach moves across the street from Girl.
Boy meets Girl.
Girl thinks that Boy is over-confident and tells her friend that she can have him.
Boy eventually talks Girl into a date.
Boy and Girl fall in love.
Boy and Girl get married.
Boy enlists in the Army, becomes a Darby's Ranger, and heads off to war.
Girl goes to church every day to pray for Boy's safety.
Boy meets The Pope after a huge victory in WWII.
Boy truly believes that it was his Girl's praying that saved his life.
Boy returns from WWII a hero.
Boy and Girl have 6 daughters and live happily ever after.


**nobody can write a novel with this material. I've got dibs.

The Couple

The reunion started off on Wednesday night with a BBQ at my mom's cabin. There was to be no hamburgers and hot dogs at this BBQ. Chef Denny prepared Ribs and Walleye on the grill, along with incredible side dishes prepared by my mother, topped off with home-made brownies made from my Grandma Flo's recipe. Delicious.

The next morning we all enjoyed breakfast at the Lodge, and then headed off to the beach. That evening was the big family dinner with a talent show to follow . . . oh yeah, we do it up right!

This is my Aunt Judy. She is all kinds of Fabulous!

3 out of the 4 Bruschwein Boys

Scott, Mark and Mike

The 6 beautiful and talented Youngern daughters

(This is not in any age order . . . I am sure they would have wanted to specify this)

Terri, Judy, Margo, MaryDale, Jan and Nancy (my mom)

My sister Ali, and cousin Heidi Bruschwein

After our cocktail hour (every Youngern dinner starts out with an extensive Cocktail Hour), my Grandpa Dale started out the meal by welcoming everybody, and telling an "Ole and Lena" joke. This is tradition.

We feasted on Steak, Chicken, and Walleye. It was fantastic. Claire opted for just a dinner roll.

After dinner, we sat back to watch the many talents of the Youngern Grandchildren and Great-Grandchildren. My Ella started off the show with a BANG as she preformed a ballet number to "Pixie Dust". She nailed it.

She beamed as her audience roared with cheers! When we left to change into her next costume, she told me, "Mom, I love when people clap and cheer for me. That was my favorite part.".




Next, my cousin Katy and her son Elliot wowed the audience with his batting ability. Watch out Joe Mauer!

My Uncle Dean kept the performance going with a little stand-up comedy. He and Grandpa could do pretty well on the Stand-Up Tour!

My niece Daysha and cousin Lauren danced beautifully to a new version of Ave Maria

Then after a quick change, Daysha joined my Jocie and Ella for the "Country Kid" number. It was stinkin' adorable.

After her dance number, Jocie turned up the serious-factor and read the essay she wrote about her Great-Grandpa Dale. She wrote about his Ranger days in WWII which had won a Veteran's Day Essay contest last Fall.

When she finished reading, she got a standing ovation, loud cheers and soft tears from her audience . . . especially from the Man of Honor. So sweet.

After that we had a short mingling break before our big finish.

Terri and Grandpa

Claire needed a sand-toy break

How do you top an award-winning essay written by a Great-Granddaughter you may ask??

With Zumba.

That's right! My Cousin Brady's beautiful (Brazilian) wife Cristiane is a Zumba instructor. Her talent got some Youngerns off their seat to work off all the food they just ate. I kid you not.

As you could imagine, it was pretty fun to watch . . .

Work it, Todd.

I don't know what mom was doing, but it certainly wasn't Zumba.

Whatever it was, she made it look GOOD!

After the Zumba lesson, everyone was pretty reved up. What do Youngern's do when we are reved up? We turn on a little Michael Jackson and do The Thriller.

After all the dancing, we decided to go to the bar (weird).

My sister Jessie and her beau Jeremy.

We took over all the Bar games and played . . .

Darts

and Foosball

The Sisters

Needless to say, a little fun was had by all.

The next few days were spent at the beach.

Ruttger's is also the home of very tame ducks that love to be fed. This worked out very well for us since Claire LOVES ducks. If you ask Claire what the ducks says, she says, "Duck. Duck. Duck". Close enough.

Our beach days were full of tubbing and jet skiing . . .

building things in the sand . . .

lounging . . .

kayaking . . .

playing peek-a-boo . . .

more playing in the sand . . .

my cousin Hannah posed next to the Sand Kingdom she helped create

wake boarding . . .

pontooning . . .

more dancing . . .

boating . . .

water-skiing . . .

more jet skiing . . .

Hannah driving the pontoon 60 miles an hour . . .

. . . just kidding.

more sand building . . .

and just plain having a good time.


Because of Grammy's dementia, she wasn't able to be at all the events. But she did come to the ones that mattered, and I could tell she knew she was surrounded by love.

Grandpa Dale and Dean discussing the golf scores for the day

Denny and Dean

We held the Awards Ceremony on Saturday night, at the Bruschwein's cabin.

The Awards Ceremony usually only focuses on the Golf Tournement, but this year, my Grandpa decided to give a couple of shout-outs to the Chairman (my cousin, Mark Hansen)

and his Co-Chairwomen (my cousins Heidi and Heather)

Before handing out the Golf trophies, Grandpa read a golf poem witten by Arnold Palmer. Then he passed out a copy of that poem to each one of the golfers . . . a nice touch, I thought.

The speakers of the evening, my cousin Lauren and Aunt Jan

And the 3rd place team was . . . Scott and Mark Bruschwein!

The 2nd place team was . . . Carl and Todd!

they were a little excited

and proud!

The Medalist of the Tourney was . . . Mike Bruschwein!

Way to go, Mikey!

And (drum roll please), the champions of the 2010 Youngern Family Reunion Golf Tournement was . . .

Ali and Grandpa Dale (big shocker)

These two have dominated every family golf tournement thus far . . . nothing can stop this team!

The reunion was full of laughter, dancing, coacktails, music, beach dwelling, eating, and just being together. I love my family for it's many fassetts of awesomeness. Thanks for the memories and see you in two years!

Since we were in Bemidji, we had to go see Paul Bunyan and Babe the Blue Ox before we left.

I think it is a right of passage for every Minnesota kid to get their picture taken with these two.

Just one more stop was made before going back to Big Lake. One of our missions for the week was to get Jocie up on water skis. She tried so hard while at Ruttger's but just couldn't get it. My Uncle Jim insisted we bring Jocie to their lake place on Long Lake so we could get her up. We took him up on the offer!

There were many starts, many falls, many skiis that fell off . . .

After a few hours of trying, trying, trying, Jocie (and Jim) succeeded!

Yay Jocie!!! Your determanation has paid off once again!